Artwork and Animation Reviews by Christopher Signore - often for shows of the obscure sort

Monday, 29 April 2013

Sarah and Duck

Over the past few months, I've been absolutely bowled over with this lovely new series currently airing on CBeebies in the UK - the premise for Sarah and Duck couldn't be simpler. A little girl called Sarah (voiced by the adorable Tasha Lawrence) and her best friend Duck embark on gentle adventures packed with huge amounts of imagination. Whether it's baking a cake, stargazing or buying a new chair, creators Sarah Gomes Harris and Tim O’Sullivan have no trouble at all adding such charm that really appeals to children and parents. Compared to a lot of pre-school series today, this one has a special blend of its own, and I can't enough of the episodes aired so far!!

It's as timeless as Mr. Benn where anything here is possible, and with a host of fun characters to add - including Scarf Lady and Bag, Rainbow, Donkey, Moon, the Ribbon Sisters, some friendly little Shallots and the Storyteller (voiced by an unseen but enthusiastic Roger Allam).

So delighted was I in this series that it's fair that I do my bit to spread the word as much as possible. As luck would have it, I got in touch with one of the animators of the show, Hannah de Spon, to hear a little more;

Rainbow pays a visit!

For folks who are unfamiliar with you, tell us a bit about yourself;Ok
well I'm a 28 year old traditional animator from London. I've been into
cartoons and animation since I was a kid and it's the only job I've
ever really wanted to do. I currently work for Karrot Animation studio
where we make Sarah and Duck.

Who / What inspired you to want to become an artist?This
is always a REALLY hard question for me, because there wasn't one
single thing or moment that made me go 'gosh I want to do that!'...but I
think it really helped having family who encouraged me. Even when I was
drawing amazingly naive comics and colouring them with highlighter pens
they would encourage me to do more.

Plus watching a LOT of
cartoons up until now keeps inspiring me further. There's so much
quality animation around, kids today are so lucky!

What caught your interest first - drawing or animating?Drawing :D I didn't even realise you could do animation as a job until I saw a
promo trailer thing for Disney's Pocahontas which showed animators
animating. And then finding out later I could STUDY it too? WHAT. I WANT
THAT

How did you become involved with Karrot Animation? What's a typical working day there like?I
became involved when I was introduced to one of the studio's founders
before the studio was even created. I was still a student at the time
but had made some contacts through some articles I had written about
animation festivals, and two of those contacts introduced me to him.
Then I did some other jobs for a while when he contacted me again asking
if I wanted to join his new company. I would have jumped at the chance
but I was already on another work contract at a school and could not
break away.

Thankfully I kept in touch and once I'd finished at
the school I worked part time for him and the slowly growing Karrot
Animation before I was finally taken into the fold full time.

A
typical S&D day is fairly intense but I think we have a great work
environment. We all get on really well as a team even if we are in our
separate groups so when there's a problem we all help each other out to
get the job done. Plus there's the awesome commercial team on the top
floor of the building (who work on other Karrot projects and
commissions) who are also a great bunch of guys and girls!

What did you think about "Sarah and Duck" when it was first developed / pitched?I
loved it. I know I'm bias because I work on it but seriously, Sarah and
Duck is a totally unique and different looking and feeling show. Though
the show has developed a LOT since the original designs by S&D
created Sarah Gomes Harris I think it's still retained a lot of the
essence of what she was going for; a quirky and unique show about a
little wide eyed girl and her flappy duck companion on their odd mini
adventures.

What was working on this series like? Did you had any idea how much interest it would receive when first aired?Again
I'm bias because I was so excited and happy to be working on the show.
Every time I get a scene approved it's an amazing feeling...even if it's
just a shot of a character blinking! I knew the show would get some
attention for being different. So far the feedback we've been getting
from review sites and twitter and parents (and kids!) has been so
uplifting, we are glad everyone loves this show as much as we do.

Sarah and Duck at Scarf Lady's house

Who is your favourite character from the show, and why?Scarf
Lady. Really there is no part of her I DON'T like. Everything from her
design to her voice acting is brill, her banter with her Bag always gets
a laugh from me, and she's a fun model to animate too.

As
S&D is pretty vast in imagination, how would you describe this
series to first-time viewers - or parents looking for an ideal programme
to watch with their children?Oooh there's the million dollar
question. I would say firstly that Sarah and Duck is unique appearance
wise. I don't know of any pre-school show that has so much detail put
into the character designs and backdrops (seriously, this show is loaded
with little 'easter eggs' and sight gags) to make the whole world fit
together. Plot wise it's more like a kids story book, a relaxing and
quiet show that isn't trying to force a message, in my opinion it's
perfect 'just before bed' viewing.

Plus it's very gender neutral.
Sure the protagonist is a girl but she's a curious, good natured and
focused little soul who is balanced out by her boisterous and blustery
friend. I think most children can see themselves in the characters, even
Duck who is...well...a duck.

With wild speculations that
"2D animation is dead" and "British Animation is being phased out", do
you think that this will peak interest again from across the Globe, and
open up new possibilities for Animators / Artists in the UK? More to the
point, where do you think the current state of Animation in the UK
stands at this present time?I hope so! The UK animation scene
has been struggling these last few years, but we have still managed to
maintain a strong preschool legacy and kept work 'in house' rather than
sending it abroad. I don't know how big an impact Sarah&Duck will
make on the global scene compared to other big preschool shows, but I
would like to think it helps prove that preschool animation has the
capacity to be smart, beautiful and a little outlandish. So the more
kids who like it the higher the bar is raised.

I'm afraid I can't
say much for other animation (film etc) as I really don't know. But
Great Britain has always had a knack for producing quality animation with
a look that is all our own, and I think people internationally
recognise and respect that. No one can produce British animation like
Britain can!

Thanks for your time! Any final thoughts for fellow "Sarah and Duck" fans out there?THANK
YOU ALL SO MUCH. The number of people who have told me how much they
enjoy the show warms my heart every time I hear them. And this is from
adult fans of the show as well as the kids! It's a great feeling to be
working on this show and when the going gets rough and the hours get
long it's the support of people like you that make it all worth it.
We'll keep making the show great for you!

1 comment:

Sorry to come across such an old post, but I watch Sarah and Duck on Netflix with my daughter and we absolutely adore it. It was nice to get an "inside look" at this wonderful show, and see that it was getting deserved praise 4 years ago :) Thanks for the write-up!

About Me

A creative, funny chap brought up on classic 'toons from Looney Tunes to Danger Mouse. Constantly drawing and writing, he is aiming to land a career in Character Design and/or script writing with new characters or old.